Wire-locking device.



L. K. SLABAOK & G. G. MOGLAUGHLIN- WIRE LOCKING DEVICE.

AYPLIOATION FILED JAN. 20,1912.

Patented July 22, 1913.

COLUMBIA VLANOGRAPII c0.. WASHINGTON. D. c,

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LAWRENCE K. SLABACK AND GEORGE G. MoGLAUGrI-ILIN, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

WIRE-LOCKING DEVICE.

To all wit-0172,56 may concern:

Be it known that we, LAWRENCE K. SLA- BACK and GEORGE Gr. MCGLAUGHLIN, citizens of the United States of America, and residents of Cincinnati, county of Hamilton, and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vire- Locking Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is a device for securing fence wires to metal fence posts, and has for an object to produce new and improved means for engaging wire-locking tongues provided on the fence posts and for bending them into locking engagement with the fence wires.

A further and more specific object is to produce a device which may be employed in securing the wires in place on posts, similar to the post illustrated in our Patent No. 1,037,345, granted September 8, 1912, and entitled Improvement in fence posts.

These and other objects we attain in a device embodying the features herein described, and illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this invention.

In the drawings, Figures 1, 2 and 3 are side elevations of a device embodying our invention, shown in connection with a sectional elevation of a metal fence post, and they respectively illustrate three successive steps in the operation of securing a fence wire to a fence post. Fig. 4. is a fragmental transverse section of a post having a wirelocking' lug shown in engagement with a wire.

The device illustrated is adapted to be employed in connection with a fence post formed of sheet metal, such as is illustrated in our application above referred to, and having tongues struck from the metal sheet, which are adapted to be employed in securing the fence wires to the posts. The tongues are usually so formed that they extend upwardly along the post and are provided at their upper ends with enlarged heads, which are adapted to engage the inner surface of the sheet forming the post, when the tongues are bent so as to partially encircle the fence wires and to be looped back into the slots formed by cutting them out of sheet metal. Our invention is adapted to be employed in looping back such tongues, and is herein illustrated in connection with them. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 20-, 1912.

Patented July 22, 1913.

Serial No. 672,414.

drawings, the fence post is diagrammatioally illustrated and it will be understood that it may be of any desired shape, although we have illustrated a preferred form of post in Fig. l.

Each tongue 4 is provided with a head 5, and each slot 6, formed in the sheet 7 by cutting or otherwise forming a tongue from the sheet, is enlarged by completely severing a piece of metal on each side of the tongue, and on the underside of the head 5, so that the head may be introduced into the slot 6, when the tongue is looped back, to secure a wire 8 in place between it and the sheet 7 forming the post.

The operation of securing a wire to a post provided with tongues 1, is somewhat as follows: Each tongue 4 is first bent outwardly, so that a fence wire 8 may be introduced between it and the sheet 7. After the wires 8 are in place, they are stretched, and then each tongue is forced inwardly, so as to force the wire down into the groove (0, formed in the post, and against the inner face of the groove. The tongue is then bent or looped inwardly around the wire, so that the head 5 of the tongue enters the enlarged portion of the slot 6 and is moved down along the slot and along the inside surface of the sheet 7, and into engagement with the inner surface of the sheet, thereby locking the tongue in a looped or wireloc king posi tion. The device illustrated as an embodiment of our invention is adapted to perform these functions, and, as shown, consists of a bar 9, provided with hooks 10 and 11, located at opposite ends thereof, and a bent lever 12, which is pivotally mounted on the bar, and is provided with a handle 13, located at the end of its longer arm. The hook 10 is preferably integrally formed with the bar and projects axially thereof from a handle portion 1 1, which is provided on the bar. This hook is employed to engage the upper ends or heads 5 of the tongues at and to move them to the positions illustrated in Figs. 1 and 1-, so that they may receive the fence wires 8. The hook 11, located at the other end of the bar, is adapted to engage the upper edge of one of the slots 6 and to hold the bar in the operative position for looping the next adja cent tongue 4 back into the slot, so that it will lock a fence wire 8 tothe post. The bar is provided with a nose or laterally projecting lug 15, which is adapted to initially bend the tongue and force the wire into engagement wit-h the bottom of the groove a, when the bar 9 is moved inwardly toward the post, about the hook 11 as the fulcrum point. This lug is preferably of such shape, that it bends the tongue so that its head 5 is adjacent to the enlarged portion of the slot 6, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The bending of the tongue is completed by means of the pivoted lever 12, which is so located and so formed, that its foot engages the head portion of the lug, when the bar 9 is locked into the operative position and is moved into engagement with the lug. The final operation of locking the tongue into the looped or wire-locking position is accomplished by turning the lever 12 around its pivotal point, so that its handle portion 13 is moved toward the handle portion 1 1 of the bar 9. This causes the narrower portion of the tongue to enter the narrower portion of the slot 6, and forces the head 5 of the tongue downwardly along the inner edges of the slot 6 and into engagement with the inner face of the sheet 7, and thereby permanently locks the wire in position. The cooperation between the lug l5 and the lever 12 is such that each tongue is turned" sharply around the wire 8 with which it engages, since it is first firmly forced against the wire, and the wire is forced against the face of the post, where it is held by the lug 15 during the operation of bending the tongue to the final or wire-locking position.

In securing the fence wires 8 to a fence post, the lowest tongue on the post is first bent into the looped or wire-locking posi tion, by means of the device illustrated, a suitable aperture being provided in the metal of the fence post below the lowest tongue, for receiving the hook 11, and for thereby holding the bar 9 in the operative position relatively to the post. After the lowest tongue is locked in the looped position, the hook 11 is disengaged from the post and is hooked int-o engagement with the upper edge of the lowest slot 6 in the post, and the neXt tongue at is bent into the wire-locking p0- sition. This operation is repeated until all of the tongues 4 are forced into locking engagement with their corresponding fence wires 8.

It will be understood that the hook 10 may be employed for disengaging the wires from the posts by withdrawing the ends of the tongues out of engagement with the slots 6. This is accomplished by inserting the hook downwardly through the slot into hooking engagement with the head 5, and then drawing the head upwardly along the inner face of the sheet 7, and out of engagement with the slot 6.

While we have illustrated in Fig. 4, a triangular post having a series of tongues 41: formed along each reentrant-angle, it will be understood that the device illustrated may be employed with various forms of posts and with various forms of tongues, and that the tongues may be located in different positions on the post; for example, it may be convenient to employ tongues 1 that extend downwardly instead of upwardly, in. which case the hook 11 will preferably engage the lower edge of one of the slots 6, during the operation of bending the next tongue into the wire-looping engagement.

In compliance with the United States patent statutes, we have described and illustrated the preferred form of our invention, its functions and principles of operation, but we desire it to be understood that various changes, modifications and substitutions may be made, without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention, as set forth in the appended claims.

\Vhat we claim is:

1. A device for bending metal tongues struck from sheet metal fence posts, comprising a bar having means for engaging the post and means for engaging a tongue formed on the post, and for looping the tongue around the wire and into locking engagement with the slot formed in the metal of the post by the formation of the tongue.

2. A device for bending metal tongues struck from sheet metal fence posts, comprising a bar having a lug for engaging the tongue and for forcing it into locking e11- gagement with the wire, and a hook for holding one end of the bar in operative engagement with the post.

3. A device for bending metal tongues struck from sheet-metal fence posts into wire-locking engagement with fence wires, comprising a bar, a hook for securing the bar into operative engagement with the post, a lug on the bar for engaging the tongue and forcing it into engagement with the wire, and a lever mounted on the bar for forcing the head of the tongue into locking engagement with the slot formed by the formation of the tongue.

4. A device of the character described, comprising a bar having a hook for engaging a fence post, a lug for engaging a tongue formed on the post and for forcing it into engagement with a fence wire, and means pivotally mounted on the bar for bending the upper portion of the tongue at an angle to the lower portion thereof around the fence wire.

5. In a device of the character described, a bar having a hook at one end for engaging a wire-locking tongue formed on a'fence post and moving it to an operative position, a hook provided on the other end for engaging the fence post and holding the bar in an operative position during the wire-locking operation, and means located intermediate the ends of the bar for engaging the tongue and for looping it back into the slot resulting from its formation on the post.

6 A device of the character described, comprising a bar having a hook for engaging a fence post and a lug for engaging a wire-locking tongue on the fence post and forcing it inwardly toward the post and thereby taking up the slack in the wire, and a lever mounted on the bar for bending the tongue about the wire and forcing its head into wire-locking engagement with the post.

7. A device for bending metal tongues, struck from sheet-metal fence posts, into engagement with the fence Wire, comprising a bar having a lug for engaging a tongue formed on the post and for moving it into engagementwith the wire, and means mounted on the bar for moving the tongue into locking engagement with the slot formed in the post by the formation of the tongue.

formed thereon for forcing the wire-locking tongue inwardly and for thereby taking up the slack of the wire, and a lever mounted on the bar for bending the tongue into wirelocking engagement with the post.

9. A device for bending metal tongues struck fro-m sheet metal fence posts, comprising a bar havin means for engaging the post and a lug for engaging a tongue formed on the post and a lever pivotally mounted on the bar, and having a tongueengaging end which is capable of engaging the tongue, and of entering the slot in the metal, caused by the formation of the tongue.

LAlVRENGE K. SLABACK. GEORGE G. MCGLAUGHLIN. Witnesses THORNTON BoGERT, E. W. MoCALLIs'rnR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

